Jammu and Kashmir admin launches online portal to facilitate return of migrants

Srinagar: In a bid to facilitate the return of migrants and “heal old wounds”, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday (September 7) launched an online portal that will work as a grievance redressal forum for those who were displaced from the region.

The online portal is aimed at providing time-bound redressal of grievances related to Kashmir migrants' immovable properties. Migrants whose properties were encroached or forced for distress sale can file complaints.

Launching the online portal, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that the initiative will put an end to the plight of the migrants who have been suffering since the 1990s.

“This initiative will put an end to the plight of the migrants including Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, who have been suffering since the 1990s. I met numerous delegations from across the religion in the last 13 months and they unequivocally supported the return of migrants,” Sinha said.

“It is the responsibility of the present to rectify the mistakes of the past,” he added.

The Kashmir migrants can log on to jkmigrantrelief.nic.in or kashmirmigrantsip.jk.gov.in to submit their complaints. 

The application filed on the portal will be disposed of in a fixed time frame under the Public Services Guarantee Act, 2011 by the revenue authorities.

Under the initiative, the competent authority i.e. the Deputy Commissioner would undertake survey or field verification of migrant properties and update all registers within a period of 15 days and submit compliance report to the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir.

Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor said, “Following the ideals of Hon'ble former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji and Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji, we are trying to implement comprehensive and constructive programmes for social equality and harmony in Jammu & Kashmir.”

Nearly 60,000 families reportedly migrated from the valley during the 1990s turmoil, out of which approximately 44,000 migrant families are registered with Relief Organisation, J&K, whereas, rest of the families chose to shift to other states/UTs. The hapless migrants had to leave behind their immovable as well as movable properties.

Out of those 44,000 migrant families, 40,142 are Hindu families, 2684 are Muslim families and 1730 families belong to the Sikh community.

“During the trial run period of the portal, the authorities received 854 grievances which clearly showed a large number of migrant families were awaiting justice. Now, the time-bound action on complaints will not only restore the faith of people in the system but I believe thousands of families achieve closure, justice and regain their dignity,” Sinha said. 

It is pertinent to mention that with the onset of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir around 1989-1990, a large number of people had to migrate from their ancestral places of residence, particularly in the Kashmir division. There was mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits as well as a number of Sikhs and Muslim families. Under compelling circumstances, the immovable properties of these migrants got either encroached or they were forced to sell their properties at throwaway prices.

In order to address this issue, on 2nd June 1997 a law namely “The Jammu and Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997” was enacted. This Act provided preservation, protection and restraint on distress sales of the immovable property of the migrants.

The implementation of this Act, however, was a non-starter and replete with instances of non-performance. Despite various provisions, numerous instances of distress sale and alienation by different means have been reported.

The government in March 2020 took the first step in the direction to address this abysmal state of affairs by doing away with the need for written complaint by the aggrieved for the competent authority to enumerate and evict unauthorised occupants.